Month: December 2025

When the Sun Sleeps: Winter Solstice in Asia (Part Three)

Across Asia, winter-solstice folklore treats the longest night as a test of humility and endurance. From Siberia’s frost bull to Japan’s snow spirits and Korea’s red-bean rituals, these traditions frame cold as a force to respect, not conquer, and renewal as something you earn.

Winter Solstice in AsiaBefore electric light banished the shadows, winter across the colder reaches of Asia was a time for vigilance and reverence. The Winter Solstice—the year’s longest night—was more than an astronomical marker; it was a reminder of nature’s power and the fragile balance between survival and oblivion. Winter Solstice in Asia is looked at differently.

In many regions, stories emerged to give shape to the cold: spirits, demons, and deities who ruled when the world froze. Some brought famine, others discipline, and a few offered protection through ritual and respect. These myths were not merely superstition; they were survival guides, moral codes, and poetic reflections of human resilience. In this continuation, specific traditions will also be observed.

Though much of Asia does not celebrate Christmas, winter remains a time for remembrance, purification, and renewal—the same primal emotions that inspired Europe’s own solstice monsters.

Chysh Khan
(Sakha / Yakut Republic, Siberia)

Chysh KhanTo the Yakut people of Siberia, Chysh Khan—the “Bull of Winter”—emerges from the Arctic Ocean as the cold’s living spirit. His breath freezes rivers, his hooves mark the frost, and his retreat brings spring. Even the horns have meaning: his first horn represents the great frost and second the deep cold.

Today, he’s celebrated in Yakutian winter festivals as a personification of endurance, a being both feared and honoured. In the world’s coldest inhabited lands, he remains a god of survival.

Further reading: The Bull of Winter According to Tourism.arctic-Russia

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7 Generations A Plains Cree Saga’s 15th Anniversary Release. On Why This Story Still Resonantes.

This may be the season to be jolly, but for others it can also be a time for reflection. 7 Generations A Plains Cree Saga invites that quieter pause, asking us to look back in order to understand what we carry forward. While it isn’t a holiday tale like Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, it shares a similar impulse, using reflection as a means of understanding responsibility, memory, and the path ahead.

7 Generations A Plains Cree Saga
This anniversary release includes mini-essays and a prologue to explain why this story matters, and to explain a bit of Cree culture. Available to purchase on Amazon USA.

David A. Robertson and Scott B. Henderson’s 7 Generations A Plains Cree Saga marks its 15th anniversary this year, and the newly released collected edition offers a powerful reminder of just how emotionally devastating, and quietly resonant, this story remains. It’s been recoloured and relettered, which makes its message all the more powerful. At its centre is Edwin, a young man who cannot find a reason to live. When his mother discovers him at death’s door during an unplanned visit, even a desperate rush to the hospital seems insufficient. The book opens not with hope, but with exhaustion.

It’s a moment many people encounter at some point, particularly during the holidays, when expectations, memory, and pressure collide. In that sense, Edwin’s despair feels painfully recognisable. I couldn’t help but feel for him, namesake coincidence aside. What changes everything, though, is the way life reasserts itself, not as a lecture or a solution, but through story.

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Winter Solstice Legends: So Who Rules Them All? (Part Two)

Before Christmas and commerce, the winter solstice legends included more than the usual creatures that go bump in the night. From Krampus to the Yule Cat—there’s many more who flit in the night, to celebrate winter’s dual nature: cruel yet cleansing, dark but also full of renewal.

Winter Solstice Legends - Holiday Horror 2025 EditionNo list can ever be complete without mention of the first entry who—at least in terms of media appeal—pulls the reins. Out of all the darker Winter Solstice Legends, Krampus has become the most acknowledged in modern Western pop culture! Whether he is parodied or turned into a true icon of terror, the purpose varies.

That’s because of his allure and how media has embraced him as an icon for those who don’t really celebrate the modern-day notion of Christmas or just want to be anti-establishment. But there are others who exist alongside him, whom we will explore in a separate article. They all get acknowledged, whether locally or in different regions around the world.

Belsnickel
(Germany / Pennsylvania Dutch)

Belsnickel

Clad in tattered furs, Belsnickel visits before Christmas carrying a whip and sweets. He tests children’s manners, rewarding the polite and chastising the rude. In North America, he remains part of Pennsylvania Dutch custom, a rustic, moral counterpoint to Santa Claus. As for why he’s such a fixture in this part of the United States, the best way to find out is either to go there to witness events yourself, or….

Further reading: Christmas in Pennsylvania by Alfred Shoemaker, or this report on Pennlive.com.

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Winter Solstice Legends. Exploring Their Wild Magic and Legendary Status (Part One)

Before Christmas and commerce, the winter solstice legends included more than the usual creatures that go bump in the night. From Krampus to the Yule Cat—there’s many more who flit in the night, to celebrate winter’s dual nature: cruel yet cleansing, dark but also full of renewal.

Holiday Horror and Winter Solstice LegendsLong before malls blared carols and Santa slid down chimneys, winter belonged to stranger things. From the shadowed Alps to the frozen fjords, there are other entities said to roam the land. Throughout Europe, some were mortal, others were spirits, and maybe one or two were fae. These Winter Solstice Legends existed in legend and folklore as a friend to Saint Nick, or perhaps served as a gentle reminder of Winter’s power, or perhaps why one must be kind to others!

As avatars of them perform in festivals, their true presence manifests in the songs and stories told over the warm fire. Whether in the comfort of a home or in camp, just what’s revealed keeps some thoughts safe. And in what I hope is a comprehensive list, what I offer is what I’ve learned so far about these legends.

The Caganer
(Catalonia, Spain)

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20181216-spains-beloved-scatological-christmas-customOften hidden in plain sight, the Caganer turns the act of searching into part of the ritual; finding him is said to bring luck, while failing to include him invites misfortune or poor crops. His origins likely trace back to 17th- and 18th-century Catalonia, when peasant realism and earthy humour seeped into religious art as a quiet counterbalance to idealised piety.

By squatting at the margins of the holy scene, he affirms that divinity does not float above daily life but is embedded within it, bodily, messily, and without shame. In this sense, the Caganer functions as a solstice figure in disguise, anchoring cosmic renewal to manure, labour, and the cycles of the land. Modern versions depicting politicians, celebrities, and pop-culture icons extend the joke further, democratising the sacred moment and reminding everyone, saint and sinner alike, that nature makes equals of us all.

Futher Reading: BBC Report: Catalonia’s Beloved Scatological Christmas Custom

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Explosive! Amazing! Marvel Rivals The Poster Collection Is Being Delivered by a Dark Horse

Dark Horse Comics’ Marvel Rivals The Poster Collection delivers twenty gallery-quality prints that showcase Marvel heroes in striking, dynamic compositions. From a stunning Lunar New Year celebration to bold character showcases, the collection highlights the artistic care behind NetEase’s hero-shooter and proves the game’s visual identity stands strong on its own.

Marvel Rivals The Poster CollectionAlthough slated for release after Christmas, Dark Horse Comics will release Marvel Rivals: The Poster Collection for that fan who loves to have nothing but superhero art on their walls. This collection has twenty full-colour, gallery-quality tear-out prints of the supers doing what they do best, engaged in various kinds of activity.

They are not all combat oriented, and what caught my attention is the plate celebrating Chinese New Year. It’s the most beautiful piece in the collection, rich and honouring the day with a correct colour palette, which can only make this piece soar. I believe the two individuals are Iron Fist (Lin Lie) and Psylocke (Kwannon) performing a Lion Dance. Without their signature looks in place, that’s who I think they are.

On another plate is a very stylish rendition of the Fantastic Four, and for another poster, there’s Doctor Strange. The game he’s summoned does not look like Mah-jong. These are the standouts from the collection. A lot of care and attention is put into making them true gallery pieces. I imagine these are proper paintings rather than art overlaid on 3D meshes.

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Kaiju, Dissentience’s Tribute to TOHO is Cosmic!

Dissentience’s new concept EP Kaiju turns classic Japanese monster mayhem and Lovecraftian dread into a four-part metal narrative, charting a nameless beast’s attack from first impact to ash-filled aftermath with riffs as heavy as the fallout.

Kaiju album coverFrom Bethlehem, PA, death metal / trash band, Dissentience, aims to please music lovers of this genre with an ambitious album, simply titled Kaiju. In keeping true to the story telling format, what this concept album offers are four tracks to which follows through the narrative beats of intro, rising action, climax and denouement that will no doubt track the birth to destruction. Shame there’s no comic book or short video announced at the same time, but when the theatre of the mind is involved, that’s all we need.

Scheduled for release on February 20, 2026, this concept album fuses dark horror, manic riffs, and existential lyrical dread into work that my gig for a local music magazine has given me an opportunity to listen to.
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